BALTIMORE (AP) - If the Baltimore Orioles can take care of business, they no longer have to worry about watching the scoreboard.
Trey Mancini hit his third homer in nine major league at-bats, Mark Trumbo connected for his league-leading 45th homer and Baltimore beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on Saturday night.
The Orioles pulled a half-game ahead of the Tigers for the AL’s second wild card and trail the Toronto Blue Jays by 1 1/2 games for the top spot.
“We’ve got seven games left,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter. “We’ll see. It’s there for us.”
Baltimore left-hander Wade Miley (9-13) dominated his former team. He allowed one run and seven hits and tied a career high with 11 strikeouts over 8 2/3 innings. It was Miley’s second win in 10 starts since being acquired by the Orioles from Seattle on Aug. 1.
“We got off to a good start,” Miley said. “Put them on their heels a little early. I was just trying to get in, get quick outs and let those guys go back out there and hit. And we scored some runs.”
Mancini is the third player ever to homer in his first three starts, joining Arizona’s Carlos Quentin (2006) and Colorado’s Trevor Story (2016), according to STATS LLC.
“It was great to get a win tonight, especially with Detroit falling earlier,” Mancini said. “We knew it was a big game going in.”
Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Manny Machado off left-hander Robbie Ray (8-14). The Orioles later loaded the bases, but Ray struck out Mancini and got Jonathan Schoop to hit into a 1-2-3 double play.
Baltimore boosted the lead to 2-0 in the second on a sacrifice fly by J.J. Hardy.
Miley retired 12 straight batters before allowing an infield single to Mitch Haniger in the fifth.
Mancini led off the fourth with a towering shot over the center-field wall. A single by Chris Davis added two more runs and ended Ray’s night after 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since April 24.
“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Ray said. “My command was not where it usually is, so it was just a battle all night. I wasn’t able to get my slider over like I usually do, and I was pitching really with my third and fourth pitch.”
Trumbo’s solo homer made it 6-0 in the fifth.
SHORT HOPS
Orioles: Catcher Matt Wieters has batted .355 with six doubles, a triple, two homers and 10 RBIs in 19 interleague games this season. … Hardy has reached safely in 12 of the past 15 games and is batting .396 over that stretch. .. Machado got his 53rd multihit game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke likely will not pitch again this season even though the results of an MRI did not reveal structural damage to his sore right shoulder. “I know we were happy with the MRI results. It’s just more swelling in there,” manager Chip Hale said.
Orioles: RHP Kevin Gausman (oblique soreness) will likely start Tuesday in Toronto. … LHP Jayson Aquino has recovered from a viral infection and was available out of the bullpen.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: RHP Braden Shipley (4-4, 5.59 ERA) is making his 10th career start. He has given up 12 homers in 11 appearances (59 innings).
Orioles: RHP Dylan Bundy (9-6, 4.13 ERA) tries to complete a three-game sweep in his first career game against Arizona.
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